Your cellar, your trips, and the wines you've been tracking are right where you left them.
New here?
Free, always. Education first, we'll never sell you anything you didn't ask to see.
Already have an account?
Enter the email you signed up with and we'll send a link to choose a new password.
Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Gresy
Pure Nebbiolo from Martinenga, the amphitheatre monopole the di Grésy family has held since 1797. The 2012 is mellow, mature Barbaresco: plum, mint and pipe tobacco over fine tannins. Gift-boxed by the retailer, it suits 2012 anniversaries.
Marchesi di Grésy's own note for Martinenga promises plum and cherry laced with mint, tea leaves and pipe tobacco, and at fourteen years the 2012 has grown into exactly that register. Expect bright garnet with orange reflections and fine, resolved tannins.
Bright garnet shading to orange at the rim, as the estate's own scheda describes mature Martinenga. Plum and sour cherry lead into balsamic mint, tea leaf, dried flowers and the gold-leaf pipe tobacco the di Grésy family lists for this cru. Vivino drinkers, 341 ratings on the 2012 alone, log the same drift from red fruit toward leather and dried rose.
Orange peel
Violet
Cherry
Plum
Mint
Tea
Tobacco
Tar
LeatherMid-weight and open-knit, with the fine-grained tannin Martinenga's blue marl amphitheatre gives. The sour cherry Kerin O'Keefe found raspy on release in 2015 has softened toward dried cherry and fig, and the spice of 30% new Allier barriques is fully absorbed. Acidity, 5.7 g/l on the producer sheet, keeps the mid-palate fresh rather than autumnal.
Long, savoury and menthol-cool, the mentholated close the estate calls a Martinenga signature. Fine tannins dry gently at the last.
A mature monopole-cru Barbaresco squarely in its 2019 to 2035 window, rated 4.1 across 341 Vivino reviews of this vintage: gentler and more perfumed than the estate's Gaiun or Camp Gros selections. Best as a 2012 birth-year or anniversary gift, or for anyone who wants resolved, elegant Nebbiolo without waiting.
Vintage Wine Gifts lists the 2012 at £79.97, shipped in a silk-lined wooden presentation box with four accessories and a personalised gift card. For a 2012 wedding anniversary or christening year it arrives ready to hand over.
A mature single-vineyard Barbaresco at £79.97 sits in a specific niche: strong for a 2012 birth-year or anniversary gift and for the table tonight, less compelling as a long-hold cellar project with the window closing in 2035.
A single-vintage 2012 from a famous monopole, shipped in a wooden gift box with a personalised card, is purpose-built for birth-year and anniversary gifting.
Producer-endorsed matches run from tajarin and agnolotti del plin to braised beef and toma; mid-weight body and 5.7 g/l acidity make it a broad Piedmont table wine.
£79.97 buys a fourteen-year-aged monopole cru; recent Martinenga vintages list near €58 at Italian retailers, so the aged premium is fair though not a bargain.
Mature Nebbiolo rewards drinkers who already enjoy tertiary notes like leather and tea leaf; tannin is resolved, but the style is contemplative rather than fruit-forward.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
A compact view of what the Barbaresco denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
Compare tracked offers from verified retailers at a glance. Stock is shown only where the retailer exposes it. Logos, sale pricing, and the strongest offer are surfaced first.
Vintage Wine Gifts
Barbaresco 2012 was a classic, elegant mid-weight year rather than a blockbuster, and Martinenga's south-southwest amphitheatre made the most of it. The drinking window here runs to 2035 with a peak around 2027, so the bottle is squarely in its prime.
A classic mid-weight Barbaresco year of elegance and freshness rather than sheer power, and from the estate's Martinenga monopole amphitheatre it has reached a mellow, open-knit maturity. Drinking beautifully now and should hold through the early 2030s.
A classic mid-weight Barbaresco year of elegance and freshness rather than sheer power, and from the estate's Martinenga monopole amphitheatre it has reached a mellow, open-knit maturity. Drinking beautifully now and should hold through the early 2030s.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
Barbaresco DOCG is 100% Nebbiolo and every release must pass a ministerial tasting. This bottling also carries a named MeGA (Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva): Martinenga, an 11.93 hectare monopole the di Grésy family has held since 1797.
Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.
Barbaresco is in the DOCG tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Barbaresco falls within Piedmont , covering Piedmont. The denomination is further divided into 4 sub-zones.
The whole amphitheatre between Asili and Rabaja belongs to one family, held since 1797; Dalla Terra lists only 15,000 to 20,000 bottles of Martinenga a year, so surviving stock of any single vintage is finite.
A 2012 sold in 2026 has carried more than a decade of storage and insurance. Recent Martinenga vintages list near €58 at Italian retailers, so the aged-library premium explains much of the £79.97.
Twelve months in 30% new Allier barriques, twelve more in 50 hl Slavonian casks and a further year in bottle tie up the estate's capital for about three years before a single bottle is sold.
Vintage Wine Gifts ships this bottle in a silk-lined wooden presentation box with a corkscrew set worth £17.99 and a personalised gift card, packaging a plain merchant listing would not carry.
£2.67 still-wine duty plus 20% VAT means roughly £16 of the £79.97 is tax before the wine itself is priced.
This is the estate's base bottling from Martinenga; the Gaiun and Camp Gros Riserva selections from the same amphitheatre carry the top prices, which keeps this label comparatively affordable.
Dishes that complement this wine
The producer points Martinenga at red meats, medium-aged hard cheeses and Piedmontese primi like tajarin and raviolini del plin. At this stage of maturity the fine tannins and menthol-fresh finish favour braises and truffle over anything seared hard.
Even at fourteen years the 2012 keeps the fine-grained tannin of Martinenga's blue marl, and the collagen of slow-braised beef is what that tannin is for. Marchesi di Grésy itself points this cru at red meats, and gentle braising flatters mature fruit where charring would bully it.
Try with: brasato al Barolo · braised beef cheeks · slow-cooked shin of beef · More pairings →
The estate's scheda lists tea leaves, dried flowers and pipe tobacco in the bouquet, the same autumnal register as Alba truffle. Earthy porcini bridge straight into the leather and tar notes Vivino drinkers log hundreds of times for this wine.
Try with: tajarin al tartufo · truffle risotto · porcini mushroom risotto · More pairings →
Marchesi di Grésy recommends tajarin and raviolini del plin with Martinenga, and the match is about weight: an elegant mid-bodied Barbaresco will not crush butter-dressed egg pasta and its roasting juices. The 5.7 g/l acidity keeps the richness moving.
Try with: agnolotti del plin · tajarin al ragù · butter-and-sage egg pasta · More pairings →
The producer pairs Martinenga with medium-aged hard cheeses, where fresh acidity and resolved tannin cut waxy fat without fighting rind pungency. A mature 2012 has the savoury depth to sit beside toma piemontese rather than behind it.
Try with: toma piemontese · aged Parmigiano Reggiano · pecorino sardo · More pairings →
Capsaicin amplifies alcohol burn and strips out the delicate mint, tea-leaf and dried-flower aromatics that make mature Martinenga worth its price. Hot dishes flatten it into a generic tannic red.
Skip with: hot chilli curries · 'nduja dishes · fiery Sichuan plates · Pairing guide →
Dalla Terra's technical sheet puts Martinenga at 15,000 to 20,000 bottles a year from the 11.93 hectare monopole, aged in 30% new Allier barriques before Slavonian oak. The 2012 drew 88 points from Wine Enthusiast on release and now trades as a mature single-cru Barbaresco.
Peak around 2027. Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.
Already mature with a peak around 2027; the authored window runs to 2035 so it will hold, but this is a bottle to drink, not a project to lay down.
£79.97 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 20 Jul 2026, 05:45 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighDrawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumYes. 2012 was a classic, elegant Barbaresco vintage and this bottle sits inside its 2019 to 2035 drinking window, with a peak around 2027. The producer estimates a 25 to 30 year life for Martinenga, so there is no rush, but it is already mellow and open-knit.
Martinenga is an 11.93 hectare amphitheatre in the heart of the Barbaresco commune, bordered by the Asili and Rabaja crus, and it has been a monopole of the di Grésy family since 1797. South-southwest exposure at 220 to 290 metres on calcareous blue marl gives ripe but elegant Nebbiolo even in tricky years.
No. This is the estate's base Martinenga Barbaresco DOCG, drawn from the monopole as a whole. Gaiun and Camp Gros are separate parcel selections from the same amphitheatre, released later and priced higher; Camp Gros is the Riserva.
Very well. Vintage Wine Gifts ships this 2012 in a silk-lined wooden presentation box with four accessories and a personalised gift card, so it arrives ready to give for a 2012 wedding anniversary or christening year. For someone born in 2012, the drinking window to 2035 even covers an 18th birthday in 2030.
Stand the bottle upright for a day, then decant gently for half an hour to leave any sediment behind. Serve at 16 to 18C in a large glass; the mint-edged, tobacco-scented bouquet opens quickly at this age.
4 retailers
Barbaresco
4 retailers
£28.46
£32.01
3 retailers
Barbaresco
3 retailers
£100.62
3 retailers
Barbaresco
3 retailers
£53.67
£55.40
3 retailers
Barbaresco
3 retailers
£19.80
Affiliate disclosure. Some links above are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Editorial coverage, ratings and tasting notes are written independently and a retailer cannot pay to be listed or to be ranked higher.
How retailer prices are sourced.
Prices and stock are read from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Outbound buy links carry rel="nofollow sponsored noopener". The list is sorted by price; we do not accept payment for placement.
What we will never do. Imply we tasted a bottle when we didn’t. Imply stock when a retailer is out. Imply independence on links that are paid affiliate links.
Verified retailers
Price comparison
Updated daily
